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Three days after power was cut at her Vernon Trailer park, Lisa Cantafio-Anderson is still reeling.
“When we watched our power get cut, I mean, even though it just took them a second, it crushed us, like it literally broke us,” an emotional Cantafio-Anderson told Global News Monday.
“When I walked in my house, my house was so dark and quiet. It was really weird, and it was very heartbreaking … I can’t believe that this happened.”
Cantafio-Anderson is one of about 30 residents living at the Crown Villa Trailer Park who are now without electricity indefinitely.
“The nights are really cold. We’re struggling to keep the fridge going. We bought some stuff so we can cook outside,” Cantafio-Anderson said. “Some of us got some batteries to try and get, you know, stuff, stuff running.”
Friday’s power shut off was the culmination of years of warnings and fines to upgrade and repair dangerous electrical hazards.
“This decision follows more than five years of enforcement actions trying to compel the owner to address serious safety risks, recognizing that the property owner is legally and financially responsible for making these repairs,” said Kate Parker, the vice-president of operations for Technical Safety B.C.
The property’s owner, Carol Goldstone, has told Global News she can’t afford the repairs.
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“I have no cash, as everybody knows, OK, and this is a massive, massive, expensive repair,” Goldstone said Friday just shortly before the power was cut.
But residents say Goldstone has known about the issues for years and still did nothing.
“We’re all disappointed,” Cantafio-Anderson said. “This all could have been avoided but she just kept taking her time and some of the tenants were hoping she would come through.”
The cost of repairs isn’t known but according to Goldstone, they are estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“What can I say, we are just going to have to camp. That’s basically what we have to do,” Goldstone said Friday. “We’re in the beautiful Okanagan. It’s summer. They don’t have to leave.”
With nowhere to go, many are staying put, at least for now.
But concerns are being expressed about what will happen when summer comes.
“Once the heat starts then — because we’re in trailers — the trailers heat up and without being able to run AC’s, they can be unbearable,” Cantafio-Anderson.
Cantafio-Anderson says she is desperately hoping for a solution, even one that includes new ownership, even if it means forcing her and her family out of a trailer park they’ve called home for more than a decade, provided they receive compensation.
“We’re fine if we get paid out to go, right, because at least we get some compensation and we can go someplace and be secure,” she said. “That’s all we want.”
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